Blogs from Victoria, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

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Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria October 9th 2018

We did sleep in a little this morning...and really needed it! We woke to a gorgeous, clear, cool, blue skied morning. How blessed we have been on the weather here. A little rain the first half day of our tour in Windsor and a rainy afternoon last Saturday here in London...perfect all the rest of the time. If my new English friend Mike Fossey provided that great weather, I wish him a great big Thank You! We were on a mission today to clock off the rest of our “want to do” list. We had a good breakfast here at the hotel and were then off to the races. Today was the day for our great adventure of navigating the perils of the Underground so off we went to the Victoria Underground Station. We bought a ... read more
St. Paul’s Cathedral
St. Paul’s Cathedral
Gate at St. Paul’s Cathedral

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria October 8th 2018

NOTES FROM YESTERDAY: My final step count was 15,865. Yay me...blessings on my feet! Also there was a comment made on the blog yesterday that I thought more of you might be interested in concerning bathroom facilities when you are out and about: Every bathroom here, in the older buildings especially, are ALWAYS upstairs or downstairs using winding steps like they have in the turrets of castles. Maybe because you can fight those trying to jump the line with your nonexistent sword? THEN the stall is so small you have to be a contortionist to navigate the process! It’s all fun! We are always thankful just to have found one however. As a side note to a couple of my dear sisters in law (and you know who you are!) the toilet paper here for the ... read more
View from our new room
Long distance information please...
Church along our walk today

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria October 7th 2018

This was a VERY busy day involving LOTS of walking (14,656 steps so far!) so I will show the day more with pictures than with words. Suffice it to say that we saw new buildings, old buildings, ancient buildings, The Tower of London again, the Thames via boat, statues, palaces, bridges, monuments, The Eye (and no, Kim, we did not ride it today), the outside of Winchester Abbey (not open for tours on Sunday...may go tomorrow), Pubs which we discovered make good potty breaks here like McDonald’s at home, fancy gates, Buckingham Palace, Cleopatra’s obelisk, a HUGE protest in front of the Brazilian Embass (several hundreds at least), views across bodies of water, and two police who (at two separate times) helped us find our way back to our hotel! WHEW! It exhausts me just writing ... read more
Church we saw on our walk last night
Baby Ben—Big Ben is under repair for the next few years
Lion monument along our bus ride today

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria October 6th 2018

Note from last night: After we got our luggage delivered and got our room organized we realized that we needed to get a little something to eat, but didn’t want very much. (We are going to have to have a “come to Jesus” meeting about food when we get home. Just Saying...) Now for a heartfelt Mea Culpa and apology to my dear brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Frank and Zola. I gave them all kinds of heck last year because they ate at a Burger King a time or two on our trip to Ireland. (This is so hard to say...) it was recommended that we walk directly across the street from our hotel into Victoria Station for several choices for a quick meal. Yes I did say DIRECTLY across the street and how cool is that? ... read more
Victoria Station view
From yesterday’s rest stop
I was holding BOTH of them. I promise.

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria October 14th 2013

We have a need for a shopping expedition with a specific purchase in mind and the store we are looking for has a shop nearby in Lewisham. So with the aid of Google map we worked out a walking route that would take us the most direct way to the shop about 2.4km away. It all looked straightforward with about 5 or 6 turns onto different streets to take and we would be there. We didn’t even bother taking the GPS and using it as a hand held device. The weather was dry with just the usual heavy overcast sky but we put our raincoats on just in case. There would be no point getting caught out in strange territory if any rain arrived while we were out. We were half way into the walk and ... read more
Smithfield Market
Liverpool Railway Station
London Fire Monument

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria March 8th 2012

Welcome to Part Two of my spring break adventures. London! Carrie’s destination of choice. We successfully got to our 8:50pm flight to London on Monday evening and landed in London’s Gatwick airport. No strikes or waiting for airport staff members. From there we bought a ticket for the train to get to London. We asked someone where the train was and he just said “run now you’ll catch it!” so we did. And caught it! From there we walked around looking for the hostel. After a wrong turn, asking someone in a hotel for directions at like 11pm, we finally found it. We checked in, walked upstairs and opened the room to our 9 person room. Yes, 9 person. We were greeted by a blast of heat and realized that every one of our 4 rommates ... read more
Me outside of Buckingham Palace
The Queen of England's surprise visit
Big Ben

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria October 13th 2011

And so, after years of dreams and snuffed-out plans, I am finally writing about the markets of Central Asia, and being read by tens of thousands of people. But there’s an unsatisfying catch: the markets are the pharmaceutical, financial and energy ones, not ones filled with exotic people and food. The readers are clients of the company that I work for in England. A year and a bit since swapping small, traditional Kyiv for vast and multi-cultural London, my world has never seemed so short of variety. In Ukraine every day was unusual, memorable. I used to type up the eventful parts of my week into a 1,000-word blog; now I can write about 14 months in half as many. I moved to London last autumn to work for a company in Southwark. In order to ... read more
London
Ana and me.
Ana and me.

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria October 10th 2011

Today was our last day as we headed back across the channel to the UK and London. First stop was to drop Team Canada at the International Airport so they could catch their flight home. The rest of us (minus the West Australian contingent who were staying on for a week in Paris) headed north towards Calais and our Ferry. We passed through the area surrounding Lille where some of the fiercest fighting took place during WW1. We headed for the village of Formelles, on the outskirts there was a Pub advertising Cock Fighting which is a still a big ‘sport’ in the area. FORMELLES – FROM HELL The reason for our stop in Formelles was to visit a Military Cemetery on the outskirts of the village. In July 1916 an ill conceived and tragic battle ... read more
Final Resting Place
White Cliffs of Dover

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria September 3rd 2011

Thus far, I've enjoyed being here and have already seen so much. Each day I learn more and more about Richmond and the UK - where places are located, proper etiquette, learning about using phones abroad, etc. etc. All part of the adventure! Since Monday, all week has been Orientation. There's a large majority of students from over 50 countries worldwide going here which gives the school a diverse atmosphere. The campus is located in a high-end, ritzy area of South London; I've seen about 5 Ferraris and several Bentleys and Aston Martins. In the heart of Richmond Center, there are many clothing and shoes shops, bookstores, pubs, restaurants, electronic shops, and convenient stores. The streets are very narrow and with traffic directed on opposite sides from the States, you have to continuously look each direction ... read more
Grey Heron in Richmond Park
Lantern at Buckingham Palace
Birds at Buckingham Palace

Europe » United Kingdom » England » Greater London » Victoria June 21st 2011

ah yes - more song lyric references.... Yesterday, for me, started out at the London Dungeons. It was a bit of a cross between a gruesome history lesson and a slightly more sophisticated haunted house than you will find in Houston around Halloween. It started out with a walk through a twisted corridor of mirrors that was effectively disorienting. We got lectures on the London fire and the plague, along with the usual things jumping out at you with loud noises rubbish. There were brief demonstrations in primitive autopsies, and various torture devices (including a device that was used to castrate male prisoners). The most uncomfortable moment for me was when an animatronic prisoner popped forward from his cell door and "spit" at me. There were other "spitting" mechanisms in the place, but this one reminded ... read more
Orwell's House
The Globe Stage
Me as a wet groundling




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